The National Library receives
books and periodicals in almost all Indian languages. These are received
under the Delivery of Books and Newspapers (Public Libraries) Act 1954 (D.B. Act).

Language divisions acquire,
process and provide reading materials in all major Indian languages. Hindi,
Kashmiri, Punjabi, Sindhi, Telugu and Urdu language divisions maintain their
own stacks. Other language books are stacked in the Stack division. Language
divisions are also responsible for answering reference queries.

In1963, a separate division was established in the National Library to collect
and process Assamese books. At present the division has 12,000 books. This
collection has some works published between 1840 and 1900. Some of the
important publications are Asamiya
Larar Mitra by Anandaram Dhekiyal Phukan (1849), Larabodh Byakaran by Dharmeswar Goswami (1884), Prakrit Bhugol by Lambodara Datta
(1884) and several volumes of Sri Sankardev's Kirattan, Gunamala, Srimad Bhagavad, Bargit, Rukmini Haran Nat, and Ankiyanat.
Volumes of the periodical Arunodoi
(1846-1853, 1856-1858) are also available in the collection.

Arunodoi Patrika

Bengali Language
Collection
The library has 85,000 books in its Bengali collection. The collection
contains very rare and valuable books as well as periodicals published from
the last quarter of the 18th century. Early Bengali plays and novels are
well represented. The collection has many rare items such as the
manuscripts of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhaya, Bibuti Bhushan Bandaopadhaya,
Jibanananda Das and Bisnu De. 154 letters of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose
written to his nephew Sri Asok Nath Bose and letters to Sarat Chandra Bose
are also available in the collection. The collection has the complete set
of Rabindranath Tagore’s works, except a few of his early works. This
includes 190 first editions of Tagore’s works.

Some of the rare and important works in this collection are: A Grammar of the Bengal Language
(1778) by Nathaniel Brassey Halhed, which is the earliest printed book in
Bengali, Henry Forster’s A
Vocabulary in Two parts, English and Bangalee (1799), William
Carrey’s Dialogues, Intended to
Facilitate the Acquiring of the Bengali Language ( 1801), Ram Ram
Basu’s Raja Pratapaditya
Charitra (1801), Mrityunjay Vidyalankar’s Batris Simhansan (1802), Ramayana
translated by Krittibas and published in five volumes, Mahabharat translated by Kashi Ram Das (1802), Chandicharan
Munshi’s Tota Itihas
(1805), Jayanarayan Ghosal’s Sri
Karunanidhanavilasa (1814), William Carey’s Dictionary of the Bengali Language, 2 volumes (1815-1825).
There are 400 titles of Bengali periodicals including many rare 19th
century periodicals such as Digdarshan
(1818) first Bengali monthly and the first issue of Samachar Darpan (1831) -- the first Bengali weekly.

The library has published a four-volume catalogue of Bengali Books.

A Grammar of
the Bengal Language (1778) by Nathaniel Brassey

Halhed

Gujarati Language
Collection

The library has 37,000 Gujarati books. 1100 of them are titles published
prior to 1900. This collection also has 30 albums of paintings by Kanu
Desai published between 1936 and 1956. Ancient Jaina miniature paintings
are well reproduced in Sri Jaina
Chitravali, Sri Jaina Chitra
Patavali and other valuable books edited by Sarabhai Nawab. The
authentic editions of the poetic works of medieval Gujarati poets such as
Narsinh Meheta, Mirabai, Premanand and Symal Bhat are also part of the
holdings.

Hindi is the national language of India. The collection building
of Hindi books has been continuing since the time of the Imperial Library,
and a separate division was established in 1960. At present 80,000 Hindi
books are in the library collection. The collection has rare works
published during the last decades of the 18th Century. Many of the
publications published by Lulloo Lal, the first printer, publisher and
writer of Kolkata, are represented in this collection. The following rare
books published by Lulloo Lal are in the library: Braja Bhasha Grammar (1811), Lataife Hindi (1821), Rajaniti
(1827), and Prem Sagur (1842).

In addition, the library has The
Oriental Linguist with an Extensive Vocabulary English and Hindoostanee and
Hindoostanee and English by John B. Gilchrist (1798), Hindi-Roman Orthoepigraphical Ultimatum
by John B. Gilchrist (1804), Rajneeti
by Narayana Pandit (1809), Sudamacaritra
by Haldhara Dasa (1819), Raga
Kalpadruma (1843), Baital Pachisi
by Duncan Forbes (1861), Dictionary
of Hindee and English by J. T. Thompson (1862), Yavan Bhasa ka Vyakaran by Hooper William (1874), Siva Simha Saroja by Siva Simha
Senagar (1878), Hindi Pradipa
edited by Balkrishna Bhatt (1877-1909), Brief
Account of the Solar System in Hindi (1940), and a microfilm copy of Bal Bodhini (1874-77)--a monthly
journal for women edited by Bharatendu Harischandra. There are also about
1200 rare first issues of important journals.

A separate Kannada division was set up in 1963 in the National Library. In
1960, the library purchased the personal collection of H. Channakeshava
Ayyangar. It consists of 1300 books published between the last two decades
of the 19th century and the first three decades of the 20th century. An
important contribution toward building the collection was the efforts of G.
P. Rajaratnam, a noted Kannada author. Immediately after the enactment of
the D.B. Act, Rajaratnam toured the erstwhile Mysore state to create awareness among
the publishers about the Act. He collected about 1500 books without any
expense to the library. The Kannada collection in the library is
particularly useful for the study of the cultural history of Karnataka.

At present there are 32,000 Kannada books in the library.

Kashmiri Language
Collection

The Kashmiri division was formed in 1983. Currently the library has 500
Kashmiri books. Some of the important items in this collection are Muhammad
Yusuf Teng’s Shirin Qalm (2
volumes), Wiyur edited by Ghulam
Muhammad Rafiq, Ghulam Nabi Khyal’s Akah Nandun, Nurnama
(sayings of Nuruddin Wali) and compiled by Muhammad Amin Kaim, Fazil and Kashmiri’s Krishna Lila.

Malayalam Language
Collection

The Malayalam division was established as a separate division in 1963, with
around 5000 books. Now the collection has 34,500 books. The earliest
printed book, Centum Adagia
Malabarica, a Latin translation of Malayalam proverbs, dates back to
1791. The Latin translations are printed alongside the Malayalam originals.
Rare and old books include Robert Drummond’s Grammar of the Malabar Language (1799), Dr Gundart’s Malayalam-English Dictionary (1872) Vartamanapustakam by Parammachkal
Govarnnodoracchan, Appu Nedungadi’s Kundalata and Chantu Menan’s Indulekha (1889). Apart from these, many works representing
earlier periods are part of this collection. A few of these are Ramacaritam (earliest known
Malayalam work), works of Niranam (a 15th century poet), Cerussery’s Krishnagatha (16th century), Vatakkan Pattukal (Ballads of North
Malabar), Ezuttachan’s Adhyatama
Ramayana, Ramaprattu Variyar’s Kucelavrtam, and Kuncan Nampyar’s Tullol.

Marathi Language
Collection

The Marathi division was established in 1963 with a collection of 8900 volumes.
The division now has 37,000 books in its collection. In 1954 the National
Library purchased the library of the Bengal Nagpur Railway Indian
Institure, Kharagpur, which had a good number of Marathi books. Sir
Jadunath Sarkar collection also has about 350 Marathi books, mostly on the
history of the Marathas. The division has many rare and old Marathi
publications. These include William Carey’s A Grammar of the Mahratta Language (1805) and Dictionary of the Maharatta Language (1810),
Simhasana Battisi (1814), Raghuji Bhonsalyaci Vanshavali (1815),
Vans Kennedy’s A Dictionary of
Maratta Language (1824), Nava
Karar (1850), A Short Account of
Railways by K. Bhatwadekar (1854), Charles Hutton’s Bijaganit (1856), Tukaram’s
Abhangachi Gatha (1869) edited by Vishnu Parashuram Pandit and Shankar
Pandurang Pandit, Itihasaprisiddha
Purushanche va Striyanche Povade edited by H. A. Acworth (1891).

An
Illustration from A Short Account of
Railways

Oriya Language Collection

A separate Oriya division was established in 1973. The Imperial Library
had only 133 books; later the collection was increased to 425 books.
Currently, the division has 19,500 books.

The oldest publication available in the Oriya collection dates back to
1831. It is Rev. Amos Sutton’s Introductory
Grammar of Oriya Language . Some of the other rarities in the
collection are Jayadeva’s Gitagovinda,
translated by Dharanidhara, Amos Sutton’s An Oriya Dictionary, 3 volumes (1841-3), Dharmapustakara Adibhaya (1842-3), and Purnacandra Odiabhasa Kosh (1931-40), a lexicon of the Oriya
language compiled by Gopalachandra Praharaj.

Opening
page of Jayadeva’s Gitagovinda

Punjabi Language
Collection

A separate division for the acquisition and processing of Punjabi
language books was established in 1974. Most of the works in this
collection are of recent origin. There are a few old and rare Punjabi
books, such as William Carey’s A
Grammar of Punjabee Language (1812), Samuel Starkey’s A Dictionary of English Punjabee
(1849), Geographical Description of
the Panjab (1850), Bhai Santosh Singh’s Guru Paratap Suraj Granthavali (1882) and Gurudas Bhai’s Vars (1893).

Sanskrit, Pali and
Prakrit Languages Collection

Sanskrit has a rich literature in many fields
of knowledge. A separate division in the library collects and processes
Sanskrit books. At present the division has over 20,000 Sanskrit books,
printed in the Devanagari script. Almost all Indian language divisions
possess Sanskrit works printed in their respective language scripts. The
library also has a rich collection of Sanskrit works edited or translated
with original scripts, in English and many other foreign languages.

The collection attracts scholars from India and
abroad. Apart from Sanskrit, books in Pail and Prakrit languages are also
collected and processed by this division. At present the library has about
500 books in Pali and a comparable collection of books in Prakrit.

Sindhi Language
Collection

Since 1957, the library has been building a collection of Sindhi books.
At present the library has 2100 Sindhi books. Shah Abdul Latif’s Shah Jo Rasalo and Shah Jo Sher are the rare items in
this collection.

Tamil Language
Collection

The Tamil division was formed in 1963. The division currently has 57,000
books. Apart from this, the library has 1000 Tamil books and 300 Tamil
manuscripts in the Vaiyapuri Pillai collection. There are many rare and old
works among the Tamil titles. Early printed Tamil books in the library
include the Tamil Bible (1723), John Philip Fabricius’s A Malabar and English Dictionary
(1779), a Tamil translation of John Bunyan’s Piligrim’s Progress (1793), and Caldwell’s Comparative Grammar of DravidianLlanguages (1850). The
collection also includes standard editions of five great Sangam Classics.

Tamil translation
of the Bible (1723)

Telugu Language
Collection

The Telugu division was started in the National Library in 1963. The
collection has a good number of old Telugu books published since the
earlier decades of the 19th century. Some of the rarities in Telugu
available in this collection are William Carey’s Grammar of Telugu Language (1814), C. P. Brown’s A Vocabulary of Gentoo and English
(1818), Vakyavali (1852), Catalogue of Telugu books in the British
Library, London (1912) compiled by L. D. Barnett.

Urdu Language Collection

Like Arabic and Persian, the Urdu collection was substantial since the days
of Imperial Library. Special collections such as the Buhar Library, Hidayat
Husain collection, Zakariya collection and Imambara collection have some
Urdu books and manuscripts. In 1968 a separate Urdu division was set up
formed in the library. At present it has more than 20,000 books. Some of
the oldest are Uklakhi Hindee or
Indian Ethics (1803), and Mir Muhamad Taki’s Kulliuat-e-Mir (1811).